Depthless
by DumbSlave
Summary: An Ordo Xenos Strike force is sent to the SC-verse. AU. Enemies stronger. First time author. Please be gentle.
1. Chapter 1

Author's NOTE: I do not own Warhammer 40k and StarCraft. They are properties of Games Workship and Blizzard, respectively. I only own the original characters.

This goes for the rest of the story.

Karuna System  
Segmentum Pacificus  
998 M41

'Prepare the nova cannon, captain.' Bellowed Surland. He sunk further into his command chair, feeling the command glyphs and neural integration relays bite into his body. A low metallic whine can be heard as his augmentics connected with his ship, _Righteous Condemnation_.

'Nova Cannon prepped and ready, Lord Inquisitor!'

'fire, captain, and may those blasphemous xenos face the emperor's judgement.' Surland bellowed, already connected to his black ship, feeling every aspect of the ship as if it was a part of his own body. All of the holy, enigmatic, and deadly 5 kilometers of adamantium connected to his body.

Lord Inquisitor Joseph Surland did not care about this xenos anymore. He considered himself to be among the most _radical_ inquisitor of the Ordo Xenos he has ever met, having used methods considered heretical by even some of the more liberal Ordo Hereticus Inquisitors. He has tried to negotiate with this small xenos empire. They had some technologies that would have been useful for the imperium, emperor damn it but they were as xenophobic as the imperium itself, and the resulting war has cost the xenos their empire. Now only their capital world remained.

'Lord Surland, all enemy ships eliminated. Captain Orsfund reports his marines has disabled all the remaining orbital defense platforms sir.'

'Order the stormtroopers to drop and take the planet'

'Your will, my lord'

Surland stared at the blue orb infront of him. Such a waste, yet these xenos were crafty. Indeed, their fleet had cost Surland 2 frigates. Small they have been, but full of surprises nonetheless.

'Captain, belay that command.'

'Inquisitor?'

'Prep order Captain Orsfund to prep his cyclonic torpedo. Two stage, if you please.'

'You mean to destroy the planet, inquisitor?'

'Yes. I wish not to sacrifice anymore imperial lives for the taking of these xenos.'

'Your will, my lord' Captain Juxtra straightened his stormcoat. The stylised **I** of the inquisition on his breast pocket gleaming from the reflected explotions thousands of kilometers away, showing his status as part of an inquisitor's retinue.

'Ensign, contact Captain Orsfund, and relay the inquisitor's wishes, and tell the rest of the fleet to form up beside the Astartes Strike Cruiser' Juxtra was never comfortable cracking a planet, but then again an inquistor of the Ordo _Xenos_ knows what to do to _Xenos_. Juxtra only had to command the vessel of his Holy Majesty's Inquisition.

Surland disconnected himself from his command chair, and walked up beside the captain near his viewport. Surland always found Juxtra unsual for a ship's captain. He never used his command chair to connect to his ship, like most naval officers. Then again, Juxtra is a veteran of 2 centuries, he mused. _If anyone knows how to run a ship, its Juxtra_.

Outside the viewport, he could see the rest of his fleet form up on a line beside his own. 2 Sword frigate squadrons with 5 swords each , 5 cobras and a 5.1 Km long Dominator class cruiser, counting his own and the Deathwatch Strikecruiser _Dominus_, Surland controlled a fleet of 18 ships and enough firepower to conquer a small empire. And the did.

The _Dominus_ moved up and neared the planet. A few agonizing seconds later, a large torpedo was launched from its portside.

The two-stage cyclonic torpedo is among the deadliest weapons of man. The first stage a powerful melta charge that would burrow deep into the planet reaching its core, where the second stage would result in the detonation of the immesurably strong warhead, resulting in the complete fragmentation of a planet.

As Surland watched from his viewport, the first stage seems about finished, as the _Dominus_ moved up to join the rest of the fleet.

Suddenly, Surland felt something bite at his mind. Surland was a psyker. An _Alpha_ psyker. Among the strongest psykers in the whole imperium, at least if you count only the ones with an intact sanity. He may be strong, but his strength can be a weakness, were he to exposed himself to the warp with less precautions than needed, he could lead to the downfall of the subsector. Maybe even the sector. His mentor, Lord Inquisitor Braxi was himself only a _Beta_ psyker, yet he **almost** blew up an entire system.

After reciting the necesarry litanies and placing the appropriate mental wards, he reached into the warp to stare down whatever it was catching his attention.

His blood ran cold.

'Captain! Order the fleet to power up gellar fields and brace for unscheduled warp excursion! Warn the astropaths and navigators.'

The captain looked at the inquisitor with only the faintest sign of terror. Centuries of fighting has dulled him to panic.

'It will be done.' And without a moment to lose, Captain Juxtra relayed the commands to the entire fleet.

Outside the viewports, Surland could see the void and gellar fields of the vessels power up, just as the unmistakable _thud_ of the powerful cyclonic warhead detonation. Surland found himself wishing he was wrong, but he had not lived for 3 centuries without knowing a thing or two about the warp.

The explosion was a fierce fiery red-yellow glow from the core, a few seconds later, red became purple, and yellow was lost, as physics meant nothing. The planet had been swalloed by a gigantic portal of _impossibilities_ as a titanic mouth to the empyrean was opened in front of them.

'captain, all ships, reverse now!'

Surland could feel the mighty engines give their all as the ships desperately tried to get out of the massive gravity well caused by the warp rift. As powerful as the imperial fleets gellar fields were, an unexpected war excursion was still deadly.

The ships, regardless of class, were pulled steadily into the warp rift. Engines powerless from the great and mighty pull of the hellish portal.

The fleet was inside the empyrean.

'Navigators across the fleet are down, captain. Alive, but unresponsive!' Juxtra shouted over the small sparks and explosions permeating the bridge. 'Fleet captains report gellar fields are up and no daemon incursions yet! The fleet however is stuck my lord. Without our navigators, we are hopelessly lost in the warp!'

'Tell the rest of the captains to maintain gellar fields, and order the chief medicae up here.' Surland said,.

Surland then drew his mastercrafted bolt pistol. A costum job from a Salamander's forgemaster, who owed him. It was the perfect size for a human hand, with or without power armor. A marvel of engineering.

He checked the magazine and found it full, and chamered one bolt. He passed it to the skeptical captain.

'Shoot me if anything _untoward_ happens'

'Inquisitor?'

But Surland could no longer hear him. Surland tapped into his great reserves of power and wrapped his mind tightly on the 18 ships that made up his fleet and on the thousands of lives they had on board.

And he yanked.

And he yanked more.

And he yanked until he could feel the barriers of the materium and the immaterium once more open.

Finally, like a breath of fresh air after months of recycled gasses, the ships broke out of the warp, and into realspace.

Surland had done it. Transited a fleet out of the warp, unaided by warp engines, fighting daemons and he had done it. He was still intact and alive. Exhausted, but alive.

The last thing Surland remembered was his favourite sidearm being dropped unceremoniously like a rock on the adamantium floor, and the captain with the chief medicae catching him as he fell, and an ensign shouting 'Where in the emperor's name are we!'

-  
Orbit of Haven  
Korpulu Sector  
54 M3

The Hyperion has been at a stand off with the protoss fleet for hours now. Neither side willing to back down.

Jim Raynor stared at the comm. Screen infront of him, Dr. Hanson standing behind him. 'Executor Selendis, with respect, I cannot allow you to commit denocide on a human colony with only the vaguest signs of Zerg infection!'

Executor Selendis stood imaculately behind the viewscreen. Psionic powered eyes looking deep into Raynor's.

"Friend raynor, if you wish to stop us, we will have no choice but to meet in glorious comb-'

Suddenly alarm klaxons sounded on both ships.

'Executor, we detect spacial anomalies a system away!'

'Captain Horner, we detect energy surges, its probably the same thing as the protoss have detected. Sir, its massive.' Said the mechanical adjutant.

'Friend Raynor, I propose we lend each other our strengths and deal first with this anomaly, and settle the fate of haven later. This anomaly seems too big to be left unchecked'


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: All franchises belong to the respective owners. Games Workshop for 40k, and Blizzard for Starcraft.

Chapter 2 is longer than chapter. Again, I would appreciate reviews. The constructive kind.

mr I hate znt nobles kill em: CMC armor is cheap, yes but is nowhere near astartes armour. Also, it is inferior to the carapace armour worn by the stormtroopers. They are superior however, to the standard issue flak vest of the guard. Tho, I dont think its much of an advantage. More of a disadvantage really, as a lasgun shot would kill a marine outright, making the suit useless for defense and just makes the user a bigger target. The guardsman also would die from a hit from the gauss rifle, but I dont the gauss spike would kill if it hit the guardsman on the chest (flak plates).

PeteSkizzle : Standard armor, yes. But standard weapons? No, the lasgun shoots out bolts of 19 MJ laser, that bolt would go through CMC armor. However, I have to concede that the terrans have better mobility, and as stated, standard armor. C-14's shoot out hypersonic 8mm spikes, they aren't much better than guard autoguns. Hell, we can see this from the cinematics, the spikes don't damage the surounding environment much. But don't worry, it won't be much of a stomp, as you can see later on. Stomps don't make for very good stories.

Unknown location  
Unknown date

The alarm klaxons stopped ringing a few hours ago. Lord Inquisitor Joseph Surland lay on his bed. His private quarters was empty aside from himself and the chief medicae, who was currently going through his portable medkit.

'What happened to me, medicae?'

'Kid, you need to rest. You just took an entire fleet, unguided mind you, out of warp space. Intact. We sustained only a few that can be considered major damage. Nothing the mechanicus enginseers and techpriests can't fix within a few months or days if we can dock at a nearby world . You however, we cant allow to over exert yourself again in the near future.' Chief Medicae Sponsor was the only person, barring the space marines, older than the Lord Inquisitor. The doctor was pushing three and a half centuries of service to His Divine Majesty. He was even the one to give birth to Surland.

Sponsor's skills was peerless. He could even give an astartes apothecary a run for his money. The chief medicae was now simply packing up his things, content that his charge is no longer in grave danger. 'Now, kid, if you will excuse me. I have other duties.'

'You may go, then, old man.' Such familiarity came with serving with eachother for the better part of two centuries, but of course in public, such displays are best avoided.

Surland gingerly stood up, and realised he was still wearing his black stormcoat. Plasma blade hilt still on its baldric, his force staff leaning against his chair to his right, and the bolt pistol he gave Juxtra awhile ago safely back on his hip holster. He checked his pocket for one of his most prized possesions, and got a satisfying feeling on his upper right breast pocket.

The doors to his room swung open, revealing a clearly worn out captain Juxtra.

'Captain, report'

'Sir, fleet reports battle ready status. Weapons are online, sub-light engines are online but warp engines are down. Short range and long starchart scanners are online, however long range auspex are down. But sir-'

'but what, captain?'

'I don't think we can go anywhere, even with repaired warp engines. The astropaths, navigators and even the deathwatch librarians are seeking your audience sir, and the astartes specially request to meet personally rather than on vox.'

'Very well, I am in no mood to argue with psykers right now. I will meet them. Prepare the conference room, and ask all who wish to be present to be there within the hour. Emperor Protects.'

~I~I~~I~I~~I~I~~I~I~~I~I~~I~I~~I~I~~I~I~~I~I~~I~I~~I~I~~I~I~~I~I~~I~I~~I~I~~I~I~

More than a 100 psykers of various roles and power filled the conference room.

Navigators, astropaths, seers, and 3 astartes librarians. The strongest of whom was a Beta psyker, and Surland was sure, regardless of being a tier lower than him, might still be able to kill him.

'Gentlemen, and ladies' he said as he saw a few female astropaths 'My captain reports to me you all with to discuss something?' He said in his most authoritative voice. The room was silent, all eyes upon the tired inquisitor.

The silence was broken by the strong voice of the Beta level marine librarian, Librarian Qixi, he believed.

'Inquisitor Surland, tell me, have you looked through the empyrean since you took us out of the warp?' This drew a hail of breaths from everyone in the room. It seemed that the librarian asked the question no one else dare ask.

'No, brother librarian.' Surland replied as he redied his mind. He looked through the warp and saw

Chaos.

But not chaos as he saw it. There was a distinct taste of serenity and peace, as if the warp was untouched. No daemon came assaulting him. No whisper of taint. No temptation.

Worse. No astronomicon. Emperor damn it, but he couldn't see the everpresent astronomicon.

He closed his mind. Coming back to reality.

'No astronomicon' He could here a few of the astropaths cry. Their souls, bounded to the Emperor's, are currently their own.

'What do you make of this, inquisitor? And you should be made aware, known stars are intact, but spatial anomalies are missing from scans of local systems.' Asked one of the navigators.

'The astronomicon disappearing could only mean two things. The emperor ,forgive me, may have fallen. Or we are outside of its range. However, worry not. I am sure the emperor falling would be heard as a psychic backlash enough to kill some of us more aware of such things. And since the astropaths are all still alive, that means the emperor is alive. And there is also the state of the warp...'

'My lord, what do you mean?' One of the sobbing astropaths asked amidst bouts of strong wails.

'I'm sure librarian Qixi and the navigators would agree, the warp is... calmer. When I opened y mind and peered into the warp. No daemon-' his thoughts were interupted. Literally. Someone was trying to scan his mind. _Someone has the audacity to scan my mind!_ He gave a targetted psychic scream which should have sufficiently scared the intruder. It worked. The intruder's psionic waves receded and Surland knew he hurt that creature. Suddenly 4 more minds are assaulting him, and he could see the rest of the people in the room suddenly all flare up. They had realised what was happening to the inquisitor and put up their shields.

Surland was unimpressed by the skill of his attackers. So far, a single mindmaze was enough to keep them at bay. They did read minds like books, not like the mazes they truly were. They had finesse, no doubt, but it was a lack of skill. They were skillfull at what they were trying to do, yet that was leagues below imperial psyker training, what with fending off daemons all the time.

It was Surland's turn. He mentally grabbed hold of the 3 of the assaulting minds and fried their users' brains bringing them into unconciousness with ease, at the same time realising they weren't human. _Protoss_. Hmm. A new xenosbreed, he thought to himself.

The last one, unmistakably female, and more powerful than the previous 4, he grabbed hold and traced back to the source.

Surland burned her a small bit. Enough to hurt like getting punched _lightly_ by an astartes, and mentally bellowed to her 'I am Lord Inquisitor Surland of His Divine Majesty's Inquisition. You have attempted to violate my mind, a crime punishable by extreme torture and genocide of your entire species, xenos' Surland let go of her mind, just before the pressure was too much and it would fry her brain.

He eased her mind back into her body, at the same time catching glimpses of her ship, taking recent memories as his mental tendrils let go of her increasingly fragile psyche. He could make out a few things that was relevant to him.

_Protoss_ had not been in contact with the Imperium of Man. Indeed, her mind has _no trace_ of knowledge regarding his immortal lord's realm, but better still, it knows of humans, and it is travelling with a human ship towards this location.

But humans working with aliens? They are either ignorant of the truth or are filthy heretics, or maybe, just maybe radicals like him. He will find out soon enough.

He looked around the conference room again. He knew everyone saw what had happened. Both mentally, and physically.

'You are all to return to your vessels at once. We will settle our problems at a later time. For now, even though the warp is not as hostile as it used to be, do be falter in your vigilance, brothers. You will be tempted to open up your minds more. I will allow you only to do so for at most half more than what you usually do but be on your guard. Chaos is cunning. Dismiss, Ave Imperator'

Surland was first to exit the conference room and immediately head for the bridge. The bridge was only a 250 meter walk from the conference room, and Emperor bless little mercies, on the same deck.

Surland found the bridge rather well, considering their abrupt entry and exit into the warp. Only 3 missing personell. Death by blunt trauma, it seems, basing on the blood splatter stains on the floor.

He found the captain over-looking the entire thing from his command dias, just below the inquisitor's own command chair.

'Captain, I want the fleet to form a spherical defensive perimeter around the _Righteous Condemnation _as soon as the psykers return to their ships. Spool up weapons, but keep them fired down. I want to be ready for any hostilities, but not to openly provoke it. We should be expecting visitors soon, and I do not know these _Protoss _and _Terrans_.'

'Your will, my lord'

The good captain set about his duties, while the tired old inquisitor sat on his command chair, and once again linked up to his ship, becoming one with it.

It was an old ship, and he was an old inquisitor. But several Juvenat treatments and extensive augmentics and bionics hidden under his skin has made him more powerful than a human on his prime, and he looked like he was just pushing on 40.

'Are those scanners going to be up soon, captain?'

'The techpreists are still working on it, my lord'

'Do a full range scan after they are fixed. I want to know whats out there, or where we are.'

'Your will, my lord.'

He, of course could do it himself, with his MIU link, but he preffered the captain do it. He was an inquisitor who liked to do things on the field, not in space. His expertise in the subtleties of a warship was a pale shadow of the captain's.

'Captain, prepare my power armoud, and tell Captain Orsfund I want him and 4 of his most trusted marines on board the _Condemnation_ in a few minutes. We're going to surprise these _Protoss_.'

~I~I~~I~I~~I~I~~I~I~~I~I~~I~I~~I~I~~I~I~~I~I~~I~I~~I~I~~I~I~~I~I~~I~I~~I~I~~I~I~~I~I~

Raynor counted himself lucky. It wasn't everyday a terran was invited on board a Protoss mothership without probes attached to their rear quarters, but he felt apprehensive at the implications.

As soon as the hyperion arrived at the outskirts of the system the anomaly was located in, he found the Protoss has, as expected, beaten them there.

What was unexpected though, was the invitation to come on board the flagship. The Executor herself ordered it, but was unavailable at the moment, to notify him herself.

As Raynor now walked the halls of the Protoss vessel, he was awestruck as the sheer beauty and grace of the vessel. It was like a work of art in a _deadly_ vessel form. It was beautiful as it was deadly, and he quitely chuckled to himself as the repition of the the Protoss colours of blue and gold somehow made the whole thing work.

The bridge was also something to be breathless about. The consoles were nothing like the bulky Terran counterparts, the viewport a massive orb of glass, and the instruments all look like it was made for both _function AND_ _form_. He was silently hoping Swann wouldn't do anything stupid.

Lucky for all of them, Swann had taken the walk through the ship with uncharacteristical silence.

'Swann, how are you holding up?' Raynor asked to his chief mechanic.

'Commander. It's beautiful.' Raynor could swear he saw a tear form in Swann's eyes.

'Commander, I think that's executor Selendis over there' Chimed in a dutiful Matt Horner.

'I belive so too Matt. Tychus, behave yourself' Raynor added in as he saw a grin form on Tychus' face. The only other member of his little Party was Dr. Hanson, but she was quiet.

'You will wait for the Executor to summon you here.' Commanded the Protoss who had guided them this far. They were flaked with Zealots and where sure they couldn't get away even if they wanted too. Even with both Raynor and Tychus in the armor.

A scream errupted from the knot of Protoss around the executor. One of the templars had fallen to the ground, and Raynor just realised that he was floating awhile ago.

The templar screamed, psionically and it hurt even the terrans. The humans were confused, as the Protoss communicated psionically with eachother, and as such could only stare in bewilderment at what was happening around them.

=I=

'What happened!' Selendis cried.

'Executor, he fought back! And, he screamed at me. He psionically screamed at me, and it manifested as both mental and physical pain.' Replied the still reeling Templar.

Selendis had ordered them to scan the fleet after their typical scanners were repelled by unknown energy fields. They had discovered a huge concentration of psionics and as such, she ordered one of her best high templars to try and read the mind of the strongest signature they could sense. She had made a huge mistake. Evidently, it was too much for the templar.

'Templar, go rest. The rest of you, with me. We shalt assault his mind together'

Selendis reached out with her psionics. Scanning the space in front of her. She was not powerful enough to read the minds of everyone within a system, yet concentrating on a psionic signature that powerful enabled her to concentrate her considerable psionic might and attack the mind.

He sensed the 3 templars with her along her psionic attack, and they were blocked by a... wall? No, a maze. A psionic maze? 'How is this possible?' The maze was easy enough to navigate at first, but it kept changing itself. It modified itself accordingly, preventing them from reaching its source mind.

Then she flet a psionic thud. He felt _tendrils_ wrap around the psionic signatures of the three templars, and they were suddenly gone.

Selendis was alone, and something grabbed her. She gave out a psionic scream back at the mothership. A scream even the terrans heard.

''I am Lord Inquisitor Surland of His Divine Majesty's Inquisition. You have attempted to violate my mind, a crime punishable by extreme torture and genocide of your entire species, xenos'

Before collapsing.

=I=

Raynor was still recovering from the sudden psionic scream. The protoss all around him were down on their knees, clutching their heads.

Raynor turned to Matt, 'Matt, instruct the hyperion to spool up weapons, I don't think we would be alone here for long'

Beside Matt, Tychus was already up. 'Geez Partner, what could make a Protoss executor cry so disgracefully like that?'

'What ever it was, I intend to find out.'

Raynor stepped warily into the throng of Protoss, towards Selendis, who was still trying to stand up.

By the time Raynor reached her, she was already on her feel, but still visibly shaken.

'En taro Tassasar, executor'

'En taro Tassadar, Freind Raynor'

'If you don't mind me asking, what happened just now?'

'We were attempting to scan their ships psionically as our standard scanners failed to penetrate their shields.'

'What was it, then?' Asked the impatient Tychus.

'Terrans. The mind was powerful. More powerful that what I believed possible, but it was unmistakably Terran.'

'Dominion? It's the Dominion? Should we prepare to jump?' Asked Raynor, clearly not wanting the alternative. A UED strike force now would be troublesome to say the least.

'No. They may be Terrans, but they are unlike what we have ever encountered. Their way of psionic battle is different, and I must say very impressive. We should-'

There was a loud crack in the air, and the smell of ozone permeated the bridge.

Raynor found himself staring into the chestplate of a _Giant_.

'No one move. Not xeno, not heretic. Not one.' Bellowed the giant.


End file.
